friedman



March 17, 1964 Filed Dec. 3, 1962 E. J. FRIEDMAN STOCKING DISPLAY BAR 3Sheets-Sheet 1 1N VENTOR EMERSON I FRIEDMAN ATTORNEYS March 17, 1964 E.J. FRIEDMAN 3,125,385

STOCKING DISPLAY BAR Filed Dec. 3, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 4:9EMERSON IJ'. FRIEDMAN ATTORNEYS March 17, 1964 E. J. FRIEDMAN 3,125,385

STOCKING DISPLAY BAR Filed Dec. 3, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.EMERSON J. FRIEDMAN WZQ W/ZVWW ATTORNE YS United States Patent 3,125,385STOCKING DISPLAY BAR Emerson J. Friedman, New York, N.Y., assignor toUS. Industries, Inc., New York, N .Y., a corporation of Delaware FiledDec. 3,. 1962, Ser. No. 242,012 9 Claims. (Cl. 312-107) This inventionrelates generally to structures for displaying merchandise and morespecifically to a self-service display case for womens hosiery and thelike comprising one or a plurality of modular units having improvedmeans for making the merchandise contained therein accessible to thebuyer in combination with means for indicating the successive items andtheir arrangement to promote such accessibility.

Prior attempts to provide self-service display cases for womens hosieryhave involved generally a storage unit or case'containing, for example,a series of shelves or compartments arranged one above the other andlaterally for containing individually flat stacked packages of womenshosiery according to size, color, etc. Indicia above each shelf orcompartment may indicate the merchandise therein, and the buyergenerally must search throughout the many storage compartments, usuallyby withdrawing merchandise therefrom to check the precise color, style,length,

etc. until she has found the particular hosiery item which she wishes.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing is cumbersome, leads toconfusion and oftentimes requires the buyer to call upon ths assistanceof a sales person in order to find the item of hosiery which the buyerWishes to select. It is the purpose of the present invention to obviatethese difficulties and to disclose herein a hosiery display case whichlends itself more readily to the efficient sale of hosiery by theself-service method.

More specifically, I have devised a display case for womens hosiery andthe like which comprises an elongate rectangular unit having top,bottom, rear and sidewall surfaces and which further includes means fordividing the unit internally and longitudinally into a plurality ofseparate merchandise compartments which are accessible from the front ofthe unit. Each of the compartments may contain, for example, a pluralityof individual flat packages of womens hosiery stacked on edge thereinmuch in the manner used in storing phonograph records. In this position,the individual hosiery packages are easily withdrawable from amerchandise compartment. In combination with the foregoing, I provide atleast one display compartment adjacent to the plurality of merchandisecompartments, the display compartment having internal lighting means forilluminating the interior and a facing translucent member covering thefront thereof. The trans lucent member displays illuminated advertisingintelligence pertaining to the arrangement of the merchandise in theother of the compartments. Such advertising, in addition to presenting apictorial representation of the class or type of hosiery contained inthe adjacent merchandise compartment, may in addition contain directionspertaining to the selection of items from the merchandise compartments.Normally, in addition to the display compartment there will be provideda specific data strip facing outwardly and at a convenient angle forviewing running longitudinally beneath the several merchandisecompartments, which strip will contain such items of information as thecolor, size, etc.

A particular and advantageous feature of the present invention is thateach display unit may be made in modular form to be arranged in verticaltiers with several other units, and the entire group of units mayfurther be placed or stacked upon a storage cabinet base. Fasteningmeans "'ice are provided for mounting the several display units one uponthe other and means are provided in combination with the fastening meansfor making severable electrical connections between each of said unitsand the base cabinet for conducting electrical power to each of thelighting means Within the display compartments.

As a consequence of the foregoing structure, an extremely attractivedisplay case has been devised which lends itself with great flexibilityto the accommodation of many diiferent styles and sizes of womenshosiery without the previous complications found in prior self-serviceunits. These and other advantages of the invention together withadditional details of the construction thereof will become apparent uponexamination of the following description, by way of a non-limitingexample of a particular embodiment devised in accordance with theinvention and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a combination of the modular unitsof the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation in cross-section of portions of the modularunits and of a base cabinet upon which they may be mounted;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary front cross-sectional view of one of the displayunits;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged cross-sectional view taken in thedirection of arrows 4, 4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevation similar to FIG. 3 illustrating analternate form which the modular units may assume;

FIG. 6 is a detail showing a bracket arrangement for securing anadvertising member to the uppermost of the modular display units; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a back-to-back arrangement of the display units foraccessibility by a buyer from opposite sides thereof.

Referring now to the drawing, initially to FIGS. 1-3 thereof, aplurality of modular units In have been illustrated stacked one upon theother, and collectively upon a base storage cabinet 11 to form aself-service stocking bar. Each of the modular units it) has an elongaterectangular shape and consists of top, bottom, rear and sidewalls 12-16. The major portion of the unit 10 is devoted to a series ofmerchandise compartments 17 which are formed by intermediate verticalpanels 1 8 secured for sliding withdrawal within a plurality of grooves19 cut into the interior of the top 12. It will be understood that thespacing of the panels 18 is purely arbitrary and that a sufiicientnumber of grooves lit will be provided to accommodate varying of theWidths of the compartments 17.

Running longitudinally beneath the several compartments 17 is a datastrip 2t? which faces outwardly and is inclined inwardly at an angle ofapproximately 45. The strip 20 may display, for example, an acetatestrip containing indicia indicating the specific color and size, forexample, of individual groups of stockings contained in the compartments17. The stockings themselves, which normally come from the manufacturerin individually Wrapper flat packages containing single pairs of severalpairs of stockings of a given size, shape or color, may be stacked upontheir sides in the several compartments 17 to leave accessible the endsof the packages for withdrawal therefrom.

In the particular embodiment illustrated, each of the units 10 defines adisplay compartment 22 which contains a fluorescent lighting fixture 23aflixed longitudinally to the interior of the top 12. A power unit 24including the starter mechanism for the fixture 23 is secured to thebase or bottom panel 13. The unit 24 is electrically energized by wiring26 leading from the lower adjacent unit 10 which may be plugged into theunit 24 at 26a to energize the same. An electrical connection 25 leadsfrom the unit 24 to the fixture 23. The unit 24 contains a furtherelectrical connection at 27 with the electrical cord 28 which leads tothe next higher unit to energize the power unit therein. In order toprovide this means for transference of current, the upper and lowerwalls 12 and 13 are provided with openings 29, 30 for the passage of therespective wiring 26 and 28. The wiring of the fluorescent fixtures 23will be in parallel so that should a fixture 23 fail to function, thiswill not interrupt the circuit. The interior of each of the compartments22 will be made white in order to provide maximum reflective qualitiestherefrom.

As will be seen, the compartments 22 have the fronts thereof covered bya translucent member 31 which is a composite laminate of an outer layerof clear glass 31a, an inner layer of ground or frosted glass 31c and anintermediate layer of clear acetate 31b. The latter comprises an artinsert upon which various pictorial representations have been made andupon which may additionally be provided written directions pertaining tothe arrangements of the hosiery in the respective adjacent merchandisecompartments 17. Referring to FIG. 1, for example, the facing of displaymembers 31 show successively in connection with the four modular units10 each a different bodily form of the wearer which is to be associatedwith the characteristic form of the individual stockings arranged in theadjacent compartments 17. A buyer would therefore, first examine thedisplay members 31 to decide which general bodily form or figure wouldcharacterize her, and thereafter, by following perhaps directions uponthe display member 31 and finally the specific information or datacontained upon the strip 20, the buyer would very quickly be able towithdraw an individual package of stockings from the correct compartmentto complete her purchase. The individual display units 10 and theircombination therefore, readily lends itself to apprising the buyerquickly of the general area in which her purchase is to be found andthereafter, by an easy succession of directions, indicating theparticular slot or compartment from which her purchase may be made.

FIG. 4 is a detail showing the manner of securing the display member 31across the front of a compartment 22. An L-shaped molding piece 33 isattached by the screw 34 to a heavy vertical panel 35 separating thecompartment 22 from the adjacent compartment 17. The member 31 (see FIG.2) is further secured by sliding therein within upper and lower grooves36, 37 provided within the interior surfaces of the top and bottom walls12, 13.

As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the units 10 has a plurality ofopenings 29, 30 respectively in the upper and lower wall surfaces 12, 13for receiving a plurality of cylindrical mounting posts 39 and 40. Thepost 39 defines a central bore for the passage therethrough ofelectrical wiring 26 and 28 in order to make the electricalinterconnections between the successive units. In addition, the unit 24receives its power from a connection 41 from the base storage cabinetwhich mounts a receptacle 42 for plug-in purposes. The latter isenergized by wiring 43 which enters the rear wall 44 of the storagecabinet 11 and as will be understood, it may be connected to aconventional wall receptacle.

Each of the posts 39 contains a radially reduced diameter 39a forinsertion within corresponding openings in the facing top and bottom ofthe units 10 and the storage cabinet 11. The mounting post contains pins46a which may be inserted within smaller openings in the respectivefacing surfaces. By this means, the posts 39, and 40 support the modularunits 19 one upon the other in spaced relation to provide an attractivespaceseparated display of these units.

The storage cabinet 11 is of conventional design and contains, in thepresent embodiment, two sliding doors 46, 47 which are held within upperand lower tracks 48, 49. It will be noted that the rear wall 44 of thecabinet 11 and the rear walls 14 of the successively tiered units it arealigned vertically. Therefore, as seen in FIG. 7, the entire displaycombination consisting of a single base cabinet 11 and a plurality ofunits 10 mounted thereupon, may be placed back to back in a store orsupermarket in order to accommodate larger quantities of stockmerchandise.

Further features may be noted in connection with the display compartment22. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, a compartment 22 contains a removable door50 to give access from the rear of the unit to the electrical circuitryand to the lighting fixture 23 therein. The door 50 is held flush withthe adjacent rear wall section 14 by means of upper and lower magneticcatches 51 permitting the door 50 to be withdrawn from the rear of thecompartment. In order to provide gripping means, the aperture 53 isprovided. The door 50 further defines a plurality of vent holes 54 forassuring that the compartment 22 will not become overheated.

A modification of the display compartment 22 has been illustrated inFIG. 5. In the alternate embodiment, the display member 31' does notcover the front of the entire display compartment but occupies onlyslightly more than half of the frontal area. This permits of an adjacentilluminated display recess 55 which may contain, as illustrated, asample display 56 of hosiery merchandise. The buyer therefore, may takethe item of hosiery from the compartment 55 in order to examine thetexture and shade thereof without removing such items from the packagescontained in the adjacent compartments 17'.

In FIG. 6 is shown an end view of an advertising bracket which may beinserted in the openings 29 at the ends of the uppermost display unit10. The bracket comprises plug elements 57 which are interconnected by ahorizontal rod 58. The rod 58 in turn mounts two opposed triangularshaped members 59, 60 made of solid rod material or of tubing, which areseparated sufliciently to slidingly receive an elongated advertisingmember or display card 61. By utilizing the brackets described, one ateach end of the upper unit 10, the display card 61 may extend lengthwiseof the top unit 10.

It will be understood that the foregoing description relates toparticular embodiments of the invention and is merely representative.Therefore, in order to fully appreciate the spirit and scope of theinvention, reference should be made to the appended claims, in which Iclaim:

1. A display case for womens hosiery and the like comprising an elongaterectangular unit having top, bottom, rear and side wall surfaces, meansfor dividing said unit internally and longitudinally into a plurality ofseparate merchandise compartments accessible from the front of saidunit, each of said compartments being adapted to contain severalindividual flat packages of womens hosiery wear stacked on edge thereinand having the ends thereof exposed for individual Withdrawal from saidcompartment, at least one display compartment within said unit incombination with and adjacent to said merchandise compartments, saiddisplay compartment comprising internal lighting means for illuminatingthe interior and a facing translucent member covering the front thereof,said translucent member containing display items of advertisingintelligence pertaining to the arrangement of said merchandise in theother of said compartments.

2. A display case according to claim 1 in which said units are modularand means are provided for fastening said units one upon the other insuccessive tiers.

3. A display case according to claim 1 in which said translucent membercovers a portion only of the front of said display compartmentpermitting space adjacent to said member within said compartment for thedisplay of sample merchandise representative of the items positioned inthe adjacent merchandise compartments.

4. A display case according to claim 2 in which each of said displaycompartments includes a receptacle for electrically connecting anddisconnecting said internal lighting means, and said receptacle isconducted internally of said fastening means successively to next lowerunits and therefrom to a source of voltage.

5. A display case for Womens hosiery and the like comprising a pluralityof elongate rectangular units having top, bottom, rear and side wallsurfaces, each of said top and bottom surfaces defining a plurality ofspaced longitudinal openings, a number of cylindrical mounting postshaving radially reduced end portions for reception in said openings topermit stacking of said units one upon the other in vertically separatedrelation, means for dividing each of said units internally andlongitudinally into a plurality of separate merchandise compartmentsaccessible from the front of said unit, each of said compartments beingadapted to contain several individual flat packages of womens hosierywear stacked on edge therein with the ends thereof exposed forindividual withdrawal from said compartment, a display compartmentwithin the end portions of each of said units in combination with saidmerchandise compartments, said display compartment comprising internallighting means for illuminating the interior thereof and furthercomprising a facing translucent member for covering the front thereof,said trans lucent member containing display items of advertisingintelligence pertaining to the arrangement of said merchandise in theother of said compartments, said mounting posts intermediate saiddisplay compartments being hollow to form electrical conduit means andwiring connections through said hollow mounting posts connected to eachof said lighting means, said lighting means and wiring being providedwith quick disconnect means in each of said units.

6. A display case according to claim 5 in which a base cabinet isprovided for mounting several of said units thereupon in successivetiers, mounting posts separate the top surfaces of said cabinet and thelower surface of the lower unit, means are provided in the top surfaceof the cabinet for receiving the lower portions of the mounting postsused to support the tiers of units, and said base cabinet is providedwith electrical wiring for the transmission of power internally thereofto the lower of said units.

7. A display case for Womens hosiery and the like comprising a pluralityof elongate rectangular units having top, bottom, rear and side wallsurfaces, each of said top and bottom surfaces defining a plurality ofspaced longitudinal openings, a number of cylindrical mounting postshaving radially reduced end portions for reception in said openings topermit stacking of said units one upon the other in vertically separatedrelation, means for dividing each of said units internally andlongitudinally into a plurality of separate merchandise compartmentsaccessible from the front of said unit, each of said compartments beingadapted to contain several individual flat packages of womens hosierywear stacked on edge therein with the ends thereof exposed forindividual withdrawal from said compartment, a display compartmentwithin the end portions of each of said units in combination with saidmerchandise compartments, said display compart ment comprising internallighting means for illuminating the interior thereof and furthercomprising a facing translucent member for covering the front thereof,said translucent member containing display items of advertisingintelligence pertaining to the arrangement of said merchandise in theother of said compartments, a removable access door at the end of saidrear wall and said display compartment, quick disconnect means connectedto said door and to the interior of the top and bottom surfaces of saidunit for fastening said door to said unit, said quick disconnect meanspermitting withdrawal of said door from the rear of said unit, saidmounting posts intermediate said display compartments being hollow toform electrical conduit means, and Wiring connections through saidhollow mounting posts connected to each of said lighting means, saidlighting means and wiring being provided with quick disconnect means ineach of said units.

8. A display case according to claim 7 in which a plurality of groovesrunning from front to rear are defined within the internal upper surfaceof the top of each unit, a plurality of vertical panels are receivedWithin at least some of said grooves for defining said merchandisecompartments, and top and bottom grooves are provided across the frontof said display compartment within the facing top and bottom surfacesthereof for the sliding reception of end portions of the translucentmember, the edge of said member adjacent to said merchandise compartments being held by end fastening means to a vertical partitionintermediate said display compartment and adjacent one of saidmerchandise compartments.

9. A display case according to claim 7 in which the topmost unit of adisplay case in which the mounting post locations at the top surface ofthe uppermost unit mount bracket means generally adjacent to endportions of said unit, and said bracket means holds a member containingadvertising along the front thereof, said member extending between saidbracket means lengthwise of said unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,337,728 Scott Apr. 20, 1920 1,544,949 Smiley July 7, 1925 1,649,652Beckhardt Nov. 15, 1927 2,255,744 Loeb Sept. 9, 1941 2,496,221 Koch Jan.31, 1950 2,783,880 Kayton Mar. 5, 1957

7. A DISPLAY CASE FOR WOMEN''S HOSIERY AND THE LIKE COMPRISING APLURALITY OF ELONGATE RECTANGULAR UNITS HAVING TOP, BOTTOM, REAR ANDSIDE WALL SURFACES, EACH OF SAID TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACES DEFINING APLURALITY OF SPACED LONGITUDINAL OPENINGS, A NUMBER OF CYLINDRICALMOUNTING POSTS HAVING RADIALLY REDUCED END PORTIONS FOR RECEPTION INSAID OPENINGS TO PERMIT STACKING OF SAID UNITS ONE UPON THE OTHER INVERTICALLY SEPARATED RELATION, MEANS FOR DIVIDING EACH OF SAID UNITSINTERNALLY AND LONGITUDINALLY INTO A PLURALITY OF SEPARATE MERCHANDISECOMPARTMENTS ACCESSIBLE FROM THE FRONT OF SAID UNIT, EACH OF SAIDCOMPARTMENTS BEING ADAPTED TO CONTAIN SEVERAL INDIVIDUAL FLAT PACKAGESOF WOMEN''S HOSIERY WEAR STACKED ON EDGE THEREIN WITH THE ENDS THEREOFEXPOSED FOR INDIVIDUAL WITHDRAWAL FROM SAID COMPARTMENT, A DISPLAYCOMPARTMENT WITHIN THE END PORTIONS OF EACH OF SAID UNITS IN COMBINATIONWITH SAID MERCHANDISE COMPARTMENTS, SAID DISPLAY COMPARTMENT COMPRISINGINTERNAL LIGHTING MEANS FOR ILLUMINATING THE INTERIOR THEREOF ANDFURTHER COMPRISING A FACING TRANSLUCENT MEMBER FOR COVERING THE FRONTTHEREOF, SAID TRANSLUCENT MEMBER CONTAINING DISPLAY ITEMS OF ADVERTISINGINTELLIGENCE PERTAINING TO THE ARRANGEMENT OF SAID MERCHANDISE IN THEOTHER OF SAID COMPARTMENTS, A REMOVABLE ACCESS DOOR AT THE END OF SAIDREAR WALL AND SAID DISPLAY COMPARTMENT, QUICK DISCONNECT MEANS CONNECTEDTO SAID DOOR AND TO THE INTERIOR OF THE TOP AND BOTTOM SURFACES OF SAIDUNIT FOR FASTENING SAID DOOR TO SAID UNIT, SAID QUICK DISCONNECT MEANSPERMITTING WITHDRAWAL OF SAID DOOR FROM THE REAR OF SAID UNIT, SAIDMOUNTING POSTS INTERMEDIATE SAID DISPLAY COMPARTMENTS BEING HOLLOW TOFORM ELECTRICAL CONDUIT MEANS, AND WIRING CONNECTIONS THROUGH SAIDHOLLOW MOUNTING POSTS CONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID LIGHTING MEANS, SAIDLIGHTING MEANS AND WIRING BEING PROVIDED WITH QUICK DISCONNECT MEANS INEACH OF SAID UNITS.